Saturday 29 January 2011

RETRO CARS ON PARADE

Just as a wee reminder, I stitched this slide-show together featuring many of the cars that were on the go in the 60's and early 70's.
Being schoolboy age at the time, much of my knowledge on cars from this era was gathered by trying to avoid them all when playing futba in the streets and down at Craigie lock-ups.
I can still name lots of them from memory - Minx, Consul, Herald, Corsair, Imp, Elf, Zephyr.... all of which crop up in the video below along with around 40 others, including the quirky bubble car!
See how many you can name (I don't have a list by the way)!
My neighbour a couple of doors along from me in Kemnay Gardens had a Zephyr and he used to speed into the culdee about 60mph then slam on the brakes to a scary sudden stop. It was like the batmobile zooming into the batcave (they used to speed the film up for that bit)!
When I was around 12 (1970ish) he once took me to a match at Muirton in his Zephyr and drove all the way at 100mph.
Dundee to Perth in 2 minutes!!

8 comments:

  1. Dear Retro, thanks for the brilliant collection of car pictures. I think a lot of the photos could have been taken in Edinburgh judging by the registrations ending in SF, WS, SG, etc. which came from there.
    Of course all the the bland euroboxes of today are more reliable etc. but the old cars were more individual (and mostly made in Britain). The Imp and its variants - Singer Chamois, Sunbeam Stiletto,and Californian were made at Linwood, Paisley.

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  2. Yes you're correct about most pictures being based in & around Edinburgh. They are courtesy of The Scotsman.
    When I was a kid in the 60's, I thought they called the "Anglia" that because it was designed using lots of sharp angles! Schoolboy logic!
    I kind of lost interest in cars when I stopped playing football in the streets, so my ability to name cars ends around about the Ford Capri era!
    The majority of cars these days just seem to use a "one design fits all" template!!

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  3. My mate's dad had a Hillman Imp in the 70s. I remember it was a vomit colour although I'm sure they had a more exotic name for the shade. Used to take us all to the stock cars at Cowdenbeath, about five kids crammed in and not a seat belt in sight.

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  4. Lovely film, Retro. So many distinctive and characterful models to choose from (if you could afford it). That (Ford Popular?) YSC168 has a really cheeky looking front, while the Anglia looks like a frog. There are a few horrors - that early Vauxhall Viva is a box on wheels (and not even a very nice box). I liked the Consul the best - nice, clean lines, but not distinctive enough to be a "classic".

    I wonder if today's kids will be able to name contemporary cars in 40 years time.

    I was trying to identify the locations, but soon realised it was Edinburgh. Crewe Toll Service Station looks a bit different today.

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  5. All of their colors look so awesome! Girls would probably love the first one. Turquoise is one of the fashion colors of the year. Maybe they'd be sportin' that to bring fashion on the streets, too! Haha! Retro cars can impress almost everyone! Btw, great collection of cars in that vid. You've shared so many in just 5 minutes! Great job! ♥

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  6. still mind goin to see the who in london in 1970. 6 of us in an anglia took 16 hours there and 17 back. i still wake up sweating at nites thinkin about it.

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  7. 2 minutes? That’s super fast, considering the distance between Dundee and Perth is 19.10 miles! Anyhow, there’s a lot of good stuff in the video slideshow of the vintage car collection you did. I even saw the car my grandpa used to own.

    Stelle Courney

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  8. I enjoyed watching the video even if it’s just a simple slide show of the retro cars we had in the past. Haha! The beat was cool too! You really feel how awesome these cars were during their generation! I would really admire that one person who can identify all these models. Haha!

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